‘I Thought It Was Going To Be The Next Fortnite’: Cowboys Star Malik Hooker Recalls Losing $40,000 On A Mobile Gaming Startup

In his fourth year with the Dallas Cowboys in 2024, Malik Hooker had a career year. He started all 17 games for Big D and finished tied for the team lead in INTs (2), third in passes defended (5), and fourth in combined tackles (81).

But like most pro athletes these days, his on-field accomplishments are not enough. Hooker, who signed the biggest deal of his career with the Cowboys prior to the 2023 season, a three-year, $21 million deal that included $16.5 million guaranteed, has been trying to broaden his horizons away from the gridiron.

To do so, he has entered the busy realm of investing. Many of his NFL peers are plying their trade now as well. We have heard of many success stories, but as Hooker proves, not every investment bet is a winner. Hooker talked about one of his recent failed investments, which came about through a relationship with someone Hooker called a “friend” before correcting himself and referring to them as an “associate”.

“I made a bad investment with a friend before—well, associate I’ll say—and the way it was solid, it sounded real good. The pitch was great. … And it was like, probably the third month into making certain payments, I’m like, ‘Hold on, I’m making all these payments, and I’m not getting enough information back on what’s getting done, where it’s going, and stuff like that.'”

It’s one of those old sayings: don’t go into business with friends. No doubt Hooker watched the pitch with rose-colored glasses because his friend (or “associate”) had brought him the idea. When pressed on what kind of business it was, Hooker was reticent to reveal much. He did, however, concede that it was a mobile game startup.

“It was a video game. And it sounded real good at the time. Because this was around the time where ‘Fun Run’ and all that stuff was kinda popping out. … It was an iPhone app. It was gonna be a game to where you could buy the characters, the characters that was on the game, they’re big time figures. … I thought [it was gonna be the next Fortnite].”

Thankfully, Hooker hadn’t gone all in on this idea. He invested about $40,000, which is still a lot of money. But it’s not an investing death knell for a millionaire NFLer (he has made just under $42 million during his eight-year career) like it would be for us average joes.

“From that day forward I was kinda like, for what I wanna accomplish, and for my 5-year, 10-year plan that I wanna get done. I gotta be more business-minded and obviously more—just knowing how to talk the business terms too. So, that made me want to dive into finding the business literacy of what I wanted to do, and knowing what I need to know.”

Clearly, Malik Hooker learned his lesson, and he’s trying to make sure he never makes that same mistake twice. His instinct to educate himself more on the investment and financial sectors rather than charging in headlong again is a good sign. We wouldn’t be surprised to see Hooker’s name associated with more successful non-football business ventures very soon.